Brothers
by JinxPrincess13
Summary: Slade has returned and now has a new apprentice. this is about titans south so...yeah. whoo 1st fanfic :  may contain minor violence and/or language...well, definatley violence...I haven't quite decided yet...
1. Chapter 1

This is a fanfic about titans south, a team I custom made for a contest. The team consists of Jinx, Jericho, Kid Flash, Thunder and Lightning. This is Brothers, a tale of betrayal and deceit, and my first fancfic so no horrid reviews or anything...the scene starts on a particularly cold night, Thunder has gone out for the evening and the others are in the main room. Lightning is getting ready to leave himself.

Lightning turned to leave. "I guess I'll see you later then." Jinx whipped round, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. "Where are you going then?"

"Out!" Lightning stated with a dismissive wave of his hand.

She sighed. "Out where?"

"Out with friends!"

Kid Flash bursts out with a rude fit of laughter. "Like you ever had friends!" Jericho smiles mirthfully, taking Kid Flash's side, as he usually would in these sorts of situations. They all knew what was coming next, the sarcastic laugh, and the complimentary 'very funny'. The question was whether Jinx or Lightning would supply it. The answer, of course as you would expect, was Lightning, who swivelled round to face the others and bellowed most of it "ha ha, very funny, I do too have friends, and I'm off out with 'em now!" and he stormed out without another word from anybody.

He met Storme at the end of the road. She didn't even try to make herself look good; she just threw on a selection of purple denim and storm cloud shirt and whatever smile she digs out of her sock pile. Her messy blonde hair didn't even look like she had bothered to pull a brush through it once. Lightning sometimes doubted she even owned a hairbrush. He always managed to notice how her hair never fell in front of her ears, just for the sake of showing off her little sparkly lightning shaped earrings. This was his little friend, he couldn't remember quite where he had met her but he liked her, and she liked him more. They're first destination was the fair.

Thunder was in the middle of a cafe, with only two other customers, an old lady who appeared to have died in her seat and a teenage boy carving into his own arm with a pen knife. He typed fast on the laptop laid out before him, number after number, and letter after letter. Tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth in concentration, which was hard to maintain with the pained cries of the teenager, and the ring of a cell phone from behind the counter. But still he plunged on with his unknown work.

Of course, the last people he had expected to see at the Jump City fair would be there nonetheless. It had played out like an extremely annoying but well rehearsed play. They had been walking down the street towards the fair itself, they were holding hands, she was swinging her arms as she walked and he had run out of things to say, so he let her talk on. Pretty soon she too fell silent. They just grinded to a halt there and then...and smiled. Then they were facing each other, close enough to feel the others breath on their face, then...it was ruined! It was a truly magical moment, a once in a lifetime awkward moment, that almost turned into a first kiss. Then Lightning saw him out of the corner of his eye and turned. And Beast-Boy turned and spotted them. He waved and gestured for them to come over there. When they simply stood there, he went over to them.

Half an hour later back at Titans South HQ:

Kid Flash played to win. If he lost to Jericho he had agreed to not only apologise to Lightning(for what he felt was nothing), but he also had to kiss Jinx in front of all the honorary titans, the teen titans themselves AND what remained of the HIVE 5(which has managed to get confusing with my various unwritten fancharacter stories). This really wasn't helped by the fact Jinx was still shouting at him in frustration, but he drowned her out as best he could. Then the inevitable: she happened to screech something he managed to hear: "KID FLASH, ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?" he had to reply didn't he? She was asking him a direct question. "Jinx, I'm not completely stupid and neither am I that rude as to ignore you this whole time, I just wasn't replying in an attempt to avoid public humiliation." Turned the last corner of the virtual race track, they were neck and neck, and... "In that case, what did I just say? Y'know before I asked if you were listening?" he busied himself with his game. He didn't have an answer so he was just going to race Jericho down the last stretch...he was just getting ahead of him...and...THE POWER CUT OUT! Jericho leapt to his feet with his arms up as if he had won. Jinx seemed to have the same idea. "Jericho wins by default! Ha ha Flash, pucker up"...he had other things on his mind... "Jinx, I can't see anything, it's pitch black outside and now it's pitch black inside. Go fix the main fuse!"

"Oh yeah, like I don't have better things to do with my time. Go get a candle. And another thing, a little word called 'please' can take you a long way! Plus I don't know HOW to fix the fuses. Only Lightning does. He was the one who set them up in the first place."

Meanwhile, and about half an hour ago, at the fair:

Beast-Boy had walked the remaining length of the road with them, keeping romance at an absolute zero. When they finally got to the fair the other titans spotted them and came right over. Robin was first to speak. "Lightning, didn't expect to see you here. Who's this your with then, aren't you going to introduce me?" he opened his mouth to answer, but Storme got there first. "I would be Storme, and I happen to be his girlfriend!" he had half a mind to jam his hand over her mouth before she could say anything else, another half to blast her there and then. Instead he settled on trying to drag her away, but they're strength was equal and she stood her ground. That's when the teasing started.

"Aww man, that's sweet, that's just sweet!"

"The look on his face!"

"Storme and Lightning sitting in a tree, K I S S I N G"

"C'mon guys, let's leave the 'lovebirds' be"

With every comment came another wave of laughter. Lightning was pretty sure most of these were pathetic cheap shots but that just made it worse. And then Starfire joined in

"You are...together? OH CONGRADULATIONS!" she flies forwards and lifts him in a bone crushing hug

"well, she looks like a fairly good catch, despite clearly never even hearing the word 'hairbrush' before in her life"

"Starfire...get off me...I can't...breathe"

She lets him go and he dusts himself off. This time when he tries to drag her off she comes without argument. And he turned to her taking out his communicator "storme, wait here a minute, I have to make a private call." And he went off down the tiny gap between the ring toss and the merry go round.

Meanwhile at Cindy's, a cafe in the southern parts of Central City:

He clicked send, closed the lid of his laptop, and looked round. The emo teen appeared to of fainted, and the old lady had left. The waitress was outside lighting a fag, and the woman behind the counter was tarting up. He got up and took his leave, a ghost of a smile on his lips, but did not go straight home.

Meanwhile at Titans South HQ, Keystone City:

"Only Lightning does. He was the one who set them up in the first place". Jinx went to the door nonetheless. "I can try, but I'd probably only mess 'em up further." The door wouldn't open. The door was controlled by the power source, and was shut when the power went out. There was something wrong with the source. "hang on...The security panel has a different source..." the security panel told her that the system was off. Someone had entered the deactivation codes. Then the doors were blasted open. They were ambushed and hopelessly outnumbered by men in black full body outfits. The faces had a single bronze circle surrounding them. Then they attacked...


	2. chapter 2, desolation

About an hour later, outside a club in Jump City:

As they stood in the cold, they believed that overall it had been a good night, the utter embarrassment aside. The titans left Storme and Lightning alone, but often spied on them in hopes of seeing a romantic moment or spark between them (spark...haha) to no avail. Now they were hanging outside a closed out club that hadn't been open for a couple of years now. The other titans had set off, leaving Lightning, Storme and Robin. So conversation struck up. "soooo... we're going down to the cinema...you wanna join?"

"Well..." said Lightning hesitantly, looking nervously to his feet "I have to call my team first."

Thunder was strolling down the road, when he remembered exactly how long he had been out.

He took out his communicator and dialled Kid-Flash

He took out his communicator and dialled Jinx

There was no answer...

There was no answer...

"I cannot. I must return home." Lightning frowned slightly and flew for home at top speed.

Thunder frowned slightly. "hmmm." He started fast towards home.

Pushing open the doors he gasped. The front room had been completely destroyed. The room itself, if possible, was even colder than the night outside, and nothing lay untouched except the doors themselves and the stairs, and even then there was hardly any room to step. His initial reaction was to call out to his brother. No reply. So he called for the rest of his team, just to be sure... no reply. 

_Why did I even call Jericho? He wasn't going to reply. What in the clouds has happened here...?_

He ascended to the next floor, walking carefully, exploring the destruction. Then he slipped on something. Overbalanced and sent one foot slamming into the wall, the other getting trapped underneath him as he fell. Looking to see what he had slipped on, his eyes were drawn instantly to his leg. A dark red streak ran the length that had scraped across...the dark puddle on the floor caught his attentions. Blood. He had slipped in blood. He didn't know who's but for the moment it didn't matter to him. He scrambled to his feet and ran for the main room.

"Well, we've established that whoever this was, they knew each of our strengths, and weaknesses. They knew the damned security codes! Someone had to tell them. Somebody is a traitor, and we've already established it's none of us." At that very moment Lightning burst through the doors. A few minutes of staring followed. Each member was damaged in a different way. At least now Lightning could see where the blood had come from. Kid-Flash was trying to press a piece of tissue to Jericho's heavily bleeding forehead, while trying to lie so that his oddly twisted ankle was lying comfortably. Jinx stormed up to Lightning, cradling her left arm with her right. "Where HAVE you been!" she shrieked, startling him back so that he tripped over his own feet. "I already said I was going out with friends, did I not?" he replied bitterly, picking himself back up.

"What friends?" sniffed Kid-Flash

"I have plenty of friends. And what's more if you do not believe me, you may contact the teen titans. I have been with them for the evening."

"FINE!" shrieked Jinx, taking out her communicator, she called the titans. When the reply came, it was Beast-boy.

"Oh no" groaned Lightning. "Not him, no, put Raven on!"

"Hello Beast-Boy, have you seen Lightning this evening?"

"yeah, he came by with his little girlfriend"

"SHUT UP, SHE IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!"

"well _she _said she was!"

"whatever, thanks" she closed the lid of her communicator and turned to her violently blushing teammate. "technically your story checks out, but there are some missing links..."

"what in the clouds are you talking about?"

"today we were ambushed. Attacked by someone who knew all of our strengths, weaknesses _and _the security codes...now how on earth did that happen..."

"the security codes? Not even _I _know the security codes! Are you accusing me of...?"

"it's only logical. It wasn't us, and the person in question had to be outside the base at the time of the attack. That simply leaves you and your brother. And who of the two of you is going to be the one most likely to betray us all for a bit of...I don't know...mindless 'fun' maybe...it seems like your style..."

"I...I...this is madness!"

"What's th...?"

But she was stopped mid sentence when a blast of blue energy enveloped the room in a painful turquoise beam.

When he got to the desolate tower the first thing he noticed was the opened door. It didn't bother him; he just didn't expect to see what was inside. He hadn't expected that much...damage. The next thing he noticed was that there were voices drifting down from the smashed window of the main room. That bothered him. He recognised the voice of their team leader, Jinx, and the voice of the shape shifter. He heard the unmistakable shriek of his brother, which he was actually glad to hear. He went up. He was at the window listening in on their conversation when Jericho tapped Kid Flash and pointed to him. Kid Flash opened his mouth to speak and the order came through his earpiece.

"Blast them."

Well, who was he to disobey. He blasted them and flew off. As far as he was concerned he had at least fatally injured them. He smiled to himself as he rode his cloud away from the scene. He smiled...and did not know why. He was the traitor...


	3. chapter 3 part 1

**Brothers part 3**

**Thank you to my friends for all the positivness. I had a lot of trouble on how to continue this...even though I've had the later parts figured for some time. Also, in reply to an anonymous comment: no we will not see Grant. I invented this storyline before I even knew that much about the titans, back before I knew Jericho was a mute even...anyway, on to the bloody story...:**

Titans south opened their eyes. The blast hadn't been too strong, not even bad enough to injure, though they were rather pained by the impact, and Lightning and Jinx had been sent flying back into the wall, the latter falling heaped upon the former. "Sorry" she muttered, picking herself up and offering him her hand, which he did not accept and picked himself up, glaring at her. She turned to the boys who were slumped and in a minor state of shock. "What in the world was that?" she nearly shrieked. Jericho outstretched his arm, pointing at a receding object in the distance. "Looks like we have a...a mystery to...ugh...follow" chirped Kid Flash happily, but in discomfort caused by his broken ankle. Jinx nodded. "Lightning, Jericho, come with me, we're gonna follow whatever it was that just blasted us." Kid Flash started to complain but was cut short by Jinx's sharp interruption. "DON'T start complaining Flash, you're not going anywhere on that ankle. Come on guys, before our little new criminal gets away. Titans south GO!" and with that, the three healthy members of titans south left, Jinx and Jericho out the door, Lightning jumping through the smashed window, transmuting his lower body before he could fall.


	4. the miserable truth

**This took me an entire month to create just the first paragraph. **

**Brothers: Thunder's betrayal. **

He was gaining on the figure flying ahead. Dreading to think what he subconsciously believed. He saw the figure setting to land, and dropped a few metres behind it. That was when he let his guard down. "Brother?" The figure whipped round.

"Lightning! What are you…?"

"I was following you. Someone attacked us. I saw you retreating from the tower and I assumed…"

"you assumed I was the assailant?"

"Indeed…" he trailed off and chuckled nervously. "Jinx insists that you are the betrayer…" he sighed. "I of course did not believe her."

"however, you had every right to. The circumstances were indeed suspicious…however…there is nothing to say her assumption was not correct." Without warning Lightning found himself propelled back when a fist slammed into his face. He sat up gasping and looked up to his brother, who's arm was lowering to his side. Thunder charged up his fists. "I am sorry brother, but you no longer lead me, and neither does the hexing witch."

"What are you…?"

"I am afraid…he is no longer _your _brother." both elementals turned to the source of the voice, both equally shocked.

Slade stepped forward as Lightning picked himself up. "He is _my _apprentice." Thunder stepped back so he was standing at his new master's side. Slade's hand rested calmly upon his new apprentice's shoulder. "What's going on here?"

Jinx and Jericho arrived on the scene, the latter nearly falling backwards from shock at what he was seeing. "Now my apprentice, I must take my leave. Feel free to do as you see fit, but…make sure they don't follow you." and Slade stepped back into the shadows. The smile fell from Thunder's face as he summoned his cloud.

"If you remain I will leave you in peace. Return home and you will remain unharmed. You do not wish to be dragged into this." he rose. And Lightning followed.

"L, what are you doing?" sighed Jinx, expirated, knowing in her soul that her team mate was doing something stupid.

"He is my brother and he must be brought to his senses." he replied, and flew off before anyone could stop him.

Jinx sighed again. "C'mon Jericho. The least we can do is offer some support from below…I think those buildings should give both sufficient viewpoint and cover." They both rushed off into the buildings indicated and made their ways to the roofs.

Thunder stopped and sighed. He did not turn. "Brother, did I not tell you to go home?" he peaked over his shoulder sadly at his twin.

"I will not return unless you return alongside."

"my impetuous brother. You still believe you can defeat me, don't you?"

"I have beaten you too many times before."

"try again." He sent a surge of turquoise energy at his brother, who only just moved out of the way in time. Only to be hit by a separate blast. Lightning spun back through the sky, grinding to a halt and charging forward, charging his hand and sending a surge of his namesake at his brother. He gasped and halted again. His brother had brought up a shield of turquoise energy.

"You cannot do that!"

"I can and will. It is _you _who cannot harm _me_" He slammed his hands together, sending a shockwave forwards. Lightning covered his ears as he was thrown back again.

"you will not prevail!"

"then neither…will you."

Lightning was submerged in turquoise light. The next thing he remembered was waking up on the pavements of Jump City surrounded by the teen titans. He had been defeated. Defeated by his own brother and he hated it. The feeling of failure and betrayal. And of weakness. He suddenly realised that he despised himself and his brother. For everything that had happened so far.

Figure fell towards him. His calculations were correct, it would have been possible. The only problem is he miss-timed his jump. Jericho leaped off the building, feeling uneasy as he went. He slammed into Lightning, attempting poorly to hold him securely. His fingertips scrabbled along the window ledge…and slipped. And he was falling. He couldn't even scream.

The teen titans were walking home. Cyborg and Beast-boy were arguing over some pathetic subject. Robin was attempting to jump in with a third view. Raven was walking in silence, looking rather pissed off at the male members of her team, looking ready to jump in and proclaim the stupidity of the subject, but knowing that that would only increase the severity of the disagreement. Starfire sighed as she took up the rear. She looked up to the sky and gasped. Two figures were falling through the air. She flew up as fast as she could. A sigh of relief. Jericho's feet touched gently unto the street as the other titans ran up.

**Yass, finally finished! Read and review…REVIEW!**


	5. Chapter 5

In his relief at being saved, Jericho dropped his companion. "What happened, what is wrong with him, how did he get like this?" asked Starfire in a single breath. Jericho's eyes travelled to the sky. And Starfire's followed. Jinx and the teen titans came over at their personal top speeds from opposite directions.

"What happened?" demanded Robin, looking from his team mate to the standing honorary to the body slumped on the pavement. He followed the eyes of the former two to the sky. The retreating figure wasn't very clear, but they could still see it. Just.

"We can deal with it. It's our problem to deal with and we don't want to drag you into the equation." Jinx interrupted their trains of thought. "We'll be fine. We just have to worry about when L wakes up. You know what he's like about…losing…" she sighed. Then Jericho remembered he'd dropped him. Lightning groaned and stirred.

He was surprised to see the titans standing round him when he opened his eyes. He pushed himself up, groaning again. He was sore all over. Jericho bent down and pulled him up. When he'd steadied himself he found his eyes travelling to the sky as well, drawn angrily to a particular cloud, moving with increasing speed through the night sky. "I-I…" he muttered, shaking his head to try and clear it. "I'LL KILL HIM!" His voice climbed to a shriek, startling everyone and even bringing a gasp from Starfire. He tried to fly up after his brother, but only managed a furious step forwards before collapsing back into Jericho, who nearly fell backwards, already unsteady due to his head injury. An injury that Raven noticed.

Lightning steadied himself again and turned to his team leader. "How did you find us?" he murmured, slurring his words slightly. Jinx jumped again when she realised he meant her and Jericho.

"We tracked his communicator." She stated miserably.

"I am…confused. You were attacked by…a fellow titan?" Titans south looked to the tamaranean girl solemnly in response. "Who did this? How did this happen? Who attacked you?"

Jinx sighed. She'd have to tell them eventually, after all, this Slade guy wanted the core titans dead, not them. "Thunder." A gasp was drawn from both Starfire and Lightning this time.

"Why would he do that?" it was more of a demand than a question. It always was with the boy wonder.

"Hypnotised." she wasn't only lying to the core titans, but to herself too. Creating a thin sliver of hope that he was still her team mate, just not acting on his own will.

"He is stronger than I have ever seen him…"

"L has a point. We need to render him so that we then have the upper hand!"

"So sort of like when you and Flash got hypnotised?" Beast-Boy offered, directing the question to Lightning, who answered with a glare, warning him not to go there. "Where is he anyway?"

"Back at the tower, but we still have the problem of our friend's increased strength…" Raven took Jinx by the shoulder and started to lead her away.

"I believe I can help in that regard…" They watched them walk away, then Cyborg offered the other two a lift back to Keystone City, which they gratefully accepted, Beast-Boy, in eagle form, making a beeline for his own bedroom window to ensure there was enough room in the T-car.

"All I need is one of your hexes." Stated Raven solemnly as Jinx stared, mesmerised at the ring of shadows forming between them. "Jinx? Jinx?" she jumped, pulling out of her stupor.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Hex the rings!"

"_What_?"

"Hex the ring I'm making…ok?"

"I'll hit you!"

"No, this is ancient magic, but it's a spell that requires…a hex…of some kind. Yours would make this more than powerful!"

"Ok…if you insist…!" she sent a hex at the ring of shadows, yelping when it exploded and threw her back against the ground.

Jinx opened her eyes, finding them instantly drawn to the black ring, studded with glowing pinky-purple gems, smoking at the feet of the now rising Raven. "This ring has the power to remove the powers of others. It steals them and keeps them locked up inside. One of you wears this, and you can remove Thunder's powers, making him as harmless as a head louse." Jinx nodded slowly, taking the ring in hand.

Kid Flash had fallen asleep upon the sofa, his leg now healed. The core titans had gone home and Jinx had come back into the room with a jar of straws. "alright guys, one of us will have to wear this." She held up the ring for all of them to see. "Jericho, wake up Flash." He did so and she repeated her first sentence. "This ring steals powers, keeps them locked inside. Renders the victim…helpless. We all know none of us wish to do this to our team mate and friend, so we're going to draw straws to decide who gets the…honour…"

"excellent my apprentice, you have shown exactly how far you'd be willing to go in the way of battles, it was unlikely either of those two would survive that fall, extremely lucky for them the teen titans themselves were in the vicinity. the next thing we must do is get to the titans and lure them here…not to mention disable tracking on your communicator to stop your little friends following and sticking their little noses in where they aren't concerned. Now my apprentice, plan and method…"

**My I haven't been able to write anything for this in a while! Muhahahahaha, Thunder wants to show how willing he'd be to destroy the titans on sight, but will he get a chance to? For those who hated Storme already after the 1st**** chapter, I regret to inform you that she'll have a brief part later on. Sorry, please review!**


	6. The clue

Thunder hovered a metre or so above the roof of Titans Tower, a weak smile playing across his features. Soon he would return to do more than just a simple observation. soon he would be there to rid the world of the Teen Titans for good. Beast-boy was the first to return, flying in through his open window, which remained wide open long after a gentle snoring had started drifting out. No doubt that the changeling's sleep speeches were embarrassing for him. The smile widened. It would be fun to have some blackmail. He was learning.

His brother just sat there, legs crossed, staring at the floor, not that far away from him. It was dark and he was unsure as to his location. He looked around for the rest of his team. They were the only two there. He started towards his precious brother, but slowed to a halt when the other boy spoke.

"Tavis. My brother. So reckless." Thunder didn't look up. He gave a low chuckle, devoid of emotion. "So cruel."

"brother, what-?"

"what were you planning to do to me when you found me?" He looked up now, his face half shadowed and only one eye visible. "just take me home and 'fix' me?"

Lightning shivered. Was it this cold a second ago? Thunder held his had out, a pinky-purple glow was splaying an odd light on his fingers, causing them to look skeletal.

"Or, dear brother, were you planning something…more." now he stood, walking forwards, coming into the light. Lightning couldn't breath. Everything blurred as his brother came into proper view. He stood over him, darkening as everything blurred into one until the only thing Lightning was aware of was a distant voice calling out to him.

He woke up, gasping. The first thing he noticed was Jinx was sitting on the edge of his bed. The next thing he took note of was that his blanket had found its way up so that a section of it had been choking him in his sleep. He tore it away from his throat and sat up, finding he'd fallen out of bed overnight.

"we have a lead!"

What remained of Titans Tower was shocking to say the least. It was even worse than the desolation at Titans South, who had been forced to find new temporary lodgings, unfortunately ending up with them cramming into a youth hostel. The worst part was there was no sight of the teen titans whatsoever. Just broken pieces of the place once called home.

"Search the place. We need a way of tracking them, I'll try scanning for their communicator signals." Jinx sighed sadly and thumped down onto the ground, fiddling hopelessly with her communicator as the boys spread out about the tower.

Kid Flash was rummaging around in Robin's room for clues. There was blood on the window sill and no glass around whatsoever. He was about to leave when he noticed something. A red light. Flashing. Almost bypassed as it was the exact same colour as the walls. He picked up the light. It was a small blip on a slightly bigger screen, positioned mainly to the north. A clue. A lead. A hope.

The blood on the window sill in his room wasn't the boy wonder's. it was their attacker's. And he wasn't happy. While Slade had taken the titans to god-knows-where, but had found that Robin had left a way to track him. The tracker had been given to Thunder. It was his job to stop whoever followed the tracker, take them down, no acception. Why did it have to be no acception?

"I thought I told you to stay out of this." Titans South looked around, searching for their former team mate. The came forward on a balcony, glaring down at them. "It was for your own safety that I told you to stay out. Now I can no longer keep you safe."

"Thunder! This isn't you!" yelled Jinx desperately. "You're not evil! You're not like this! You're our friend!"

Thunder shook his head and tutted. "You never learn." Summoning his cloud he brought himself slowly down to their level. His orders were to take them down. Those orders he would honor.


	7. The Fight and thought

They stared at one another for a moment before Thunder motioned for them to make the first move. The Titans didn't move a muscle, not wanting to fight their friend like this. Suddenly Jinx snapped and sent out a hex. Thunder hauled himself onto his cloud before it could hit him. The hexes followed his path over the room until the roof began to collapse and she realised what she was doing. He landed behind the group and latched his arm around Jericho's throat.

"This is going well." Lightning muttered under his breath, moving away from the group as they set to helping their team mate. He ducked behind some machinery and proceeded to wring his hands. This was all wrong. He kept thinking he would wake up and it would just be another nightmare.

Kid Flash had their unusual enemy trapped within one of his twisters. The other two stood by to send their own attacks when he released the elemental. Once the twister subsided Jinx blasted the blue teenager into a stack of boxes, which collapsed beneath him. The three of them rounded on him. "Thunder, last chance. Tell us why you're doing this, what happened. We can help you."

"I need no help!" He blasted Kid Flash and Jinx, giving a satisfied smirk when the former slammed against more machinery and was out for the count. He sent one of the boxes towards Jericho, who just managed to duck away in time. The apprentice took a strange remote from his new armour and pushed a button.

A section of floor opened up to form a pit too deep to see the bottom, if there was a bottom. He smirked an awful smirk and asked "Who wants to go down first?" He started towards the unconscious speedster but a box slammed into his side. Jinx stood glaring daggers at her ex-teammate. "How about no?" She sent another volley of hexes and hexed boxes towards him, forcing him to the lip of the hole in the floor. She would have forced him further but he sent his own blast and brought up his shield, a power by this point only Lightning had seen. It was surprising enough to let Jinx leave herself open. The next thing she knew, her head was slamming against the wall...or was it a delivery truck? She couldn't tell, she was too busy trying to retain consciousness. Thunder took down his shield and walked slowly to the centre of the room. Two down, two to go. They were only still standing because they were avoiding the fight. Cowards.

Jericho was waiting for the right moment behind a truck. "I can see your feet, you know. It is not a very good hiding place. Are you going to fight or will you stay behind your truck?"

Come to me, he thought stubbornly. Come to me and you'll be the idiot.

A blast of turquoise energy rocketed through the metal just inches from the mute teen's left ear. The same happened to his right. He jumped to the left as another blast just missed his right arm, close enough to inflict some pain. More blasts followed him down the length of the vehicle until he was out in the open. He was taken out with a blast square in the chest, pushing him through a few more parked lorries. Only one more left.

"Brother? Lightning, reveal yourself. I know you are here and I know this behaviour is unbecoming of you." There was no reply. "You are usually very eager to fight, whether it is myself or an actual assailant. If you do not reveal yourself, I can just break each and every one of your friends." He wouldn't actually. No matter what side he worked for, Thunder was no killer. Lightning knew this as well.

"No, you will not. You cannot. You would worry yourself crazy with the guilt that would follow."

"Behind this one?" he knocked on a yellow machine. Lightning stepped away from the machine and charged up his hands.

"I do not wish to fight you."

"Oh well. If you do not listen, there will be consequences." Lightning struck first. Thunder pulled up his shield, which angered the sallow-skinned elemental. The shield was lowered to retaliate, but Lightning was there first. The older twin stepped back as he brought the shield back up. It happened again and again until he finally got a shot in, and a powerful one. Lightning landed heavily on his arm. A loud crack echoed through the warehouse.

He slowly pushed himself back up into a sitting position before his brother grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and hauled him up.

"I don't know how it works."

Thunder arched an eyebrow. "Pardon me?"

He pulled the hand of the injured arm up with that of the free hand. A black ring sat snugly on his middle finger, a glowing purple jewel in the centre. He brushed the jewel across his brother's cheek.

Thunder doubled over with a cry of pain as a bright blue flash surrounded the brothers. Both were back on the floor. Slowly, they hauled themselves back up. They stood facing each other and both threw out their arms, but only one blast was fired. Neither had really paid that much attention to that one machine with a saw going, and Lightning still didn't look at the now bloodied saw as he went to the lip of the chasm with a grim frown. His brother hung by his fingertips, face paling and horrified.

"Lightning...Tavis...please...help me...give me my powers back, pull me up, and don't let me fall." Lightning's face softened. "I...I'm so sorry..." Thunder sighed. "What have I done? How could I have been so foolish?..."

"And it took until now for you to realise?"

He winced. "Oh yeah. I...I need help. I've been telling myself I have had this under control, but I have simply been lying to myself, and I am so sorry. I need help and I shall let you help now."

"No powers."

"No tricks."

Lightning gave a half-smile. "Definitely not." He pulled the ring from his finger, hissing with pain as he did so...and he dropped it into the hole. Thunder didn't dare release the edge to try and grab at it. Lightning crouched down and grabbed an arm. Together they began to pull him back onto solid ground.

He felt the fist connect with his jaw and it all went black.

Epilogue:

He looked down at his arm. It had been bound in cast and sling, the tips of his fingers were tinged blue. The ring sat snugly once more upon the middle one, softly glowing. A turquoise hue. He grimaced as the memories of the previous night returned to him, although he was unsure how long ago it was. How could he do that? What drove him to betrayal? How did the ring end up back out of the chasm? Did Kid Flash retrieve it or...? He stemmed his flow of thoughts, they were all muddling and becoming one thought. Thunder. The name was now tainted, spoilt. Lightning began to feel light-headed. He looked out to the side and saw his brother lying peacefully. He wondered if he was aware. Aware he was caught, convicted, tried. Aware he had lost his leg from the knee down.

They were unable to locate the main Titans, but they and all the other honoraries were now working on it. Everyone was in a bit of a panic and eager to know why Thunder had betrayed them. How dare he betray them?

Lightning was pretty certain they were at Titans East's tower, but he had no idea how they had gotten there. He had asked Kid Flash, but no real reply had been given. It wasn't that he had purposely avoided answering, it was just that he wasn't entirely sure himself and was quickly occupied with other things.

Lightning kept his gaze on his brother's form. "What have you done?" he muttered under his breath. "How could you do this?" he remembered what Thunder had said and wondered if it had been the truth or just a trick to get his little brother's help to take him down. "Are you in trouble...or just insane?"

**One. Year. Gap.**

**I'M SO SORRY! It took so long because I'm just terrible at fight scenes and this chapter was meant to be nothing but fight scene until I decided to put the epilogue (pre-written a year and a half ago on deviantart) in as well.**

**There may or may not be a sequel :D**

**The end. I hope you enjoyed it.**


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